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notorious – famous for something bad; well-known for negative reasons
- commuted – reduced a punishment to something less severe (in this case, changing a death sentence to life in prison)
- pushing to (phrasal verb) – trying hard to make something happen; putting pressure on others to do something
- brushed aside (phrasal verb) – ignored or dismissed something as unimportant
- went so far as to (phrasal verb) – did something extreme or unexpected; took action to an unusual degree
- winding down (phrasal verb) – gradually coming to an end; finishing
- let off the hook (phrasal verb/idiom) – freed someone from punishment or responsibility
- deprivation – the state of not having something essential; the act of taking something away from someone
- ship off (phrasal verb) – send someone away, often to somewhere unpleasant or distant
- crux of the matter (idiom) – the most important or central point of an issue